Happy 4th July! (1 Viewer)
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Scott
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Cornwallis
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Happy Independence Day guys ,enjoy the BBQ's, beers and celebrations! ^&grin
Jagdpanther
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Have a safe and happy 4th July!!!!
The Military Workshop
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Happy Birthday to our fellow US members.
Louis Badolato
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Happy 4th of July! I hope everybody has a great day!:smile2:
breslau
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I enjoyed this speech given by the Australian Foreign Minister at the US Embassy's 4th of July celebrations in Canberra. I thought fellow treefrogers would enjoy even though most will not recognise the names in the opening paragraphs. It certainly rings true of what the USA truly stands for and Australia's relationship with her:
Remarks at the Embassy of the United States - 4 July Celebrations
Canberra
5 July 2011
Thank you Jeff. Thank you Becky, and thank you for having us all at your house for such an important celebration.
Julie Bishop, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. I see Michael Danby, the Chairman of the joint Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. I also see General Hurley. Congratulations General, and all the best.
General Hurley, congratulations on your appointment, and we wish you the best in what is an extraordinarily important assignment for Australia.
And to my good friend, Angus Houston, who is here with us today. I usually just go to an upper range and there he is. Angus comes in at seven foot six.
And I say to Angus, as someone who's worked with him closely as Prime Minister and then as Foreign Minister of Australia, Australia has had no better Chief of the Defence Force than Angus Houston.
General Hurley, I'm sure you'll head in exactly the same direction.
A few things I was puzzled about when I arrived here today, one was that as I entered this room, there is a great banner out the front which is the state symbol of California.
I thought this was Independence Day for 50 states of the Union, not simply the Californian Republic.
I'm always overtaken by a State of the Union, namely California which has so much confidence in its own future that it can accommodate having Yogi Bear in the middle of its state label, the big brown bear outside. It shows something of the American sense of humour.
The other thing I was puzzled about, which as you've already solved this mystery as to why we're celebrating the Fourth of July on the fifth of July. Thank you for that elucidation. I'm still puzzled by it.
And outside, as you walk in to the Ambassador's residence, the array of, shall I say, select automobiles - and I inquired about that and thought this is a pretty good display.
And the Ambassador has promised me the red Mustang. Have any of you have got eyes on any of the other models? Eat your heart out, I've got a bit on those too.
The birth of the American Republic.
This is an interesting story.
Of course, the Ambassador has got in first by indicating that the Independence of the American colonies lead to the formation of this Colony, in that Britain had to dispel - dispense, I should say it's convict class elsewhere in the world.
Of course, my own forebears were direct beneficiaries of that.
Had you not achieved your independence, then my forebear in 1790 would have been sent, instead, to Savannah, Georgia, to the convict settlement there.
And the thought of me today, speaking like Jimmy Carter – it kind of worries me a bit.
But I'm a great fan of the South. By the way, on my mother's side, they came out here in 1865 from Lexington, Kentucky.
I'm not quite sure which side of the particular stoush in American politics they were on, but they arrived here within about a month of the civil war concluding.
So there are my indirect American roots.
If you reflect on the American War of Independence, this is a near run thing.
When the Declaration of Independence occurred in 1776, this was in fact almost one of the lowest ebbs of the revolutionary war.
Success hadn't been achieved in 1775, the British had done very badly at Boston.
But then, across the seas came the greatest invasion fleet in history which was George III's revenge as they sought to take down the island of Manhattan under General George Washington.
The Americans were routed. New York was abandoned. British landed, the revolution was virtually extinguished. As this tattered continental army descended all but south across what is now New Jersey to a little town called Trenton Bridge, and then across the Delaware to the other side.
And there on Christmas Eve in 1775, I think, Washington forms a political judgment.
The whole show's about to go up in smoke, both politically, militarily, and therefore for him, existentially, unless he pulls something off pretty quickly.
So at midnight, Christmas Eve, 1775, he gets the bright idea to take the 2000 remaining troops of the continental army in a midnight attack across the frozen Delaware on Trenton Bridge where German mercenaries and guardians of the bridge were in camp.
Two of the three crossings failed. The third succeeded, the rest is history. Trenton Bridge was taken.
The tide of the revolutionary war turned, and several years later, where's the ambassador of France – you had something to do with this as well?
And the rest is history.
But if you reflect on those dark days of 1776, this was a near run thing.
And a continental congress, and those who are now celebrated in the history of the annals of the American Revolution as heroes would otherwise have been hanged as traitors.
So why do I say all of that?
Freedom is had on the back of paying a great price.
It involves courage. It involves risk. It involves determination. It involves the aggregation of all those human virtues.
And as a foreigner you cannot help by be inspired by the readings of those accounts of 1775, 1776.
And that cry for freedom, which we hear loud through the revolutionary papers of that time, we have heard cry loud across the world in the intervening centuries. And we continue to hear it cry loud across the world today.
We here it across the Arab world. We have hear it in Tunisia. We hear it in Egypt. We hear it in Libya.
And there is a universality about the cry for freedom which ultimately can never be suppressed.
But the parallel message from those days of the revolution is that cries for freedom are one thing. It is the courage to stand and to defend your freedom which is the necessary accompaniment.
And that brings us to the alliance which has joined our two countries; the United States and Australia.
These last 70 years since the darkest days of World War II, and an alliance formulated and formalised 60 years ago this year in the ANZUS Treaty from 1951.
This is not simply an alliance between nation states based on matters of convenience and strategic values.
It is an alliance which is ultimately rooted in our core values as peoples.
And central to that is the proposition of freedom, and central to that is standing up and defending your freedom.
We've done that together in so many fields of human conflict and the decades since then, but most of us have lost count. But we know each time it is done, there is a price that is paid.
And today, another price has been paid, as we've lost another one of our own in the fields of Afghanistan.
One of many.
One tragically of many.
But one who forms a long and noble column in the history of the relationship between our two countries, our two democracies going back across the decades.
I'm a huge optimist for the future of the Australia-America relationship.
We, let me say it, don't always get it right. Sometimes we get it wrong. But let me tell you, when it comes to the core unity of our values and the strength of our purpose, we together, will always be with you, together.
Happy birthday, America.
Fourth of July, great day.
And can I ask all of you, in your round of applause, not applaud anything I've said, but to applaud the United States of America.
Kevin Rudd
Foreign Minister of Australia
Remarks at the Embassy of the United States - 4 July Celebrations
Canberra
5 July 2011
Thank you Jeff. Thank you Becky, and thank you for having us all at your house for such an important celebration.
Julie Bishop, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. I see Michael Danby, the Chairman of the joint Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. I also see General Hurley. Congratulations General, and all the best.
General Hurley, congratulations on your appointment, and we wish you the best in what is an extraordinarily important assignment for Australia.
And to my good friend, Angus Houston, who is here with us today. I usually just go to an upper range and there he is. Angus comes in at seven foot six.
And I say to Angus, as someone who's worked with him closely as Prime Minister and then as Foreign Minister of Australia, Australia has had no better Chief of the Defence Force than Angus Houston.
General Hurley, I'm sure you'll head in exactly the same direction.
A few things I was puzzled about when I arrived here today, one was that as I entered this room, there is a great banner out the front which is the state symbol of California.
I thought this was Independence Day for 50 states of the Union, not simply the Californian Republic.
I'm always overtaken by a State of the Union, namely California which has so much confidence in its own future that it can accommodate having Yogi Bear in the middle of its state label, the big brown bear outside. It shows something of the American sense of humour.
The other thing I was puzzled about, which as you've already solved this mystery as to why we're celebrating the Fourth of July on the fifth of July. Thank you for that elucidation. I'm still puzzled by it.
And outside, as you walk in to the Ambassador's residence, the array of, shall I say, select automobiles - and I inquired about that and thought this is a pretty good display.
And the Ambassador has promised me the red Mustang. Have any of you have got eyes on any of the other models? Eat your heart out, I've got a bit on those too.
The birth of the American Republic.
This is an interesting story.
Of course, the Ambassador has got in first by indicating that the Independence of the American colonies lead to the formation of this Colony, in that Britain had to dispel - dispense, I should say it's convict class elsewhere in the world.
Of course, my own forebears were direct beneficiaries of that.
Had you not achieved your independence, then my forebear in 1790 would have been sent, instead, to Savannah, Georgia, to the convict settlement there.
And the thought of me today, speaking like Jimmy Carter – it kind of worries me a bit.
But I'm a great fan of the South. By the way, on my mother's side, they came out here in 1865 from Lexington, Kentucky.
I'm not quite sure which side of the particular stoush in American politics they were on, but they arrived here within about a month of the civil war concluding.
So there are my indirect American roots.
If you reflect on the American War of Independence, this is a near run thing.
When the Declaration of Independence occurred in 1776, this was in fact almost one of the lowest ebbs of the revolutionary war.
Success hadn't been achieved in 1775, the British had done very badly at Boston.
But then, across the seas came the greatest invasion fleet in history which was George III's revenge as they sought to take down the island of Manhattan under General George Washington.
The Americans were routed. New York was abandoned. British landed, the revolution was virtually extinguished. As this tattered continental army descended all but south across what is now New Jersey to a little town called Trenton Bridge, and then across the Delaware to the other side.
And there on Christmas Eve in 1775, I think, Washington forms a political judgment.
The whole show's about to go up in smoke, both politically, militarily, and therefore for him, existentially, unless he pulls something off pretty quickly.
So at midnight, Christmas Eve, 1775, he gets the bright idea to take the 2000 remaining troops of the continental army in a midnight attack across the frozen Delaware on Trenton Bridge where German mercenaries and guardians of the bridge were in camp.
Two of the three crossings failed. The third succeeded, the rest is history. Trenton Bridge was taken.
The tide of the revolutionary war turned, and several years later, where's the ambassador of France – you had something to do with this as well?
And the rest is history.
But if you reflect on those dark days of 1776, this was a near run thing.
And a continental congress, and those who are now celebrated in the history of the annals of the American Revolution as heroes would otherwise have been hanged as traitors.
So why do I say all of that?
Freedom is had on the back of paying a great price.
It involves courage. It involves risk. It involves determination. It involves the aggregation of all those human virtues.
And as a foreigner you cannot help by be inspired by the readings of those accounts of 1775, 1776.
And that cry for freedom, which we hear loud through the revolutionary papers of that time, we have heard cry loud across the world in the intervening centuries. And we continue to hear it cry loud across the world today.
We here it across the Arab world. We have hear it in Tunisia. We hear it in Egypt. We hear it in Libya.
And there is a universality about the cry for freedom which ultimately can never be suppressed.
But the parallel message from those days of the revolution is that cries for freedom are one thing. It is the courage to stand and to defend your freedom which is the necessary accompaniment.
And that brings us to the alliance which has joined our two countries; the United States and Australia.
These last 70 years since the darkest days of World War II, and an alliance formulated and formalised 60 years ago this year in the ANZUS Treaty from 1951.
This is not simply an alliance between nation states based on matters of convenience and strategic values.
It is an alliance which is ultimately rooted in our core values as peoples.
And central to that is the proposition of freedom, and central to that is standing up and defending your freedom.
We've done that together in so many fields of human conflict and the decades since then, but most of us have lost count. But we know each time it is done, there is a price that is paid.
And today, another price has been paid, as we've lost another one of our own in the fields of Afghanistan.
One of many.
One tragically of many.
But one who forms a long and noble column in the history of the relationship between our two countries, our two democracies going back across the decades.
I'm a huge optimist for the future of the Australia-America relationship.
We, let me say it, don't always get it right. Sometimes we get it wrong. But let me tell you, when it comes to the core unity of our values and the strength of our purpose, we together, will always be with you, together.
Happy birthday, America.
Fourth of July, great day.
And can I ask all of you, in your round of applause, not applaud anything I've said, but to applaud the United States of America.
Kevin Rudd
Foreign Minister of Australia
wayne556517
Lieutenant General
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I think it was a happy 4th of July until the TYPHOON price was announced.............{sm3}
Hope you blokes had a great day not to many sore heads today.
Hope you blokes had a great day not to many sore heads today.
Scott
Major
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- Jan 26, 2008
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Crikey
Scott
Major
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2008
- Messages
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Happy 4th to everyone on the forum! It's still early evening and sunny (for a change) here in Seattle so we are getting ready for the big one (fireworks that is :wink2!
Before the Rockport, MA parade was rained out......
